When Reiko Wald and her team started building their go-kart, things didn’t go smoothly at first. Pieces kept coming apart and the steering wheel would only turn in one direction. However, when they raced their finished vehicle Thursday, they were the fastest go-kart in the competition.
“It definitely started out as a rocky beginning,” said Reiko, an incoming eighth-grader at Egan Junior High School. “Our cart started out the worst out of everybody’s by far, and then we got first place on speed, which is really great considering we could not steer for the majority of our go-kart making.”
Reiko said she “100%” credits her group’s success to the way they were able to come together and work collectively as a team. The students created their go-kart as part of the Los Altos School District’s summer school program.
Over the past month, fourth- through eighth-graders enrolled in summer school worked in teams to build go-karts, culminating in a race down a hill at Covington School last week.
The project was developed as a way to teach various STEM topics to kids in a format they would be excited about, according to summer school principal Laura Wiley. Students learned about concepts such as how wheels turn and how steering works. The focus was on using a design-thinking process, where students iteratively test and improve their go-kart.
“(It’s) that perseverance attitude of working through things and trying to just keep going until they can get it right or get it close to right,” Wiley said.
Daniel Shahmirzai, one of Reiko’s teammates, said the project was hard at first. The group was nearly done building their go-kart when they had to take apart the entire front section to fix the steering mechanism and wheels.
“The building was kind of difficult at first – everything kept coming apart,” Daniel said. “Then we started progressing a little bit and we started working as a team.”
It was that team effort that made the finished product a success, the students said.
For Raymundo Marin, an incoming seventh-grader at Egan, part of the fun of the go-kart project was working with his teammates to pick a design for their vehicle. They ended up with a Lorax theme.
“In general, it was really fun, because you can talk with your group and brainstorm different ideas,” Raymundo said.
Shoring up skills
The Los Altos School District reimagined its summer school program this year to adapt to the disruption the pandemic caused. In past years, the district partnered with the YMCA to run summer school in a camp structure. This year, the district went with a more academically intensive approach intended to help students shore up skills they will need for the next grade level.
“We realized that there were probably a lot of students who just needed some more intentional, focused instruction in reading, writing and math,” Wiley said.
The district enrolled roughly 145 kids in summer school this year, which ran from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. during July. Teachers and administrators selected students they felt could use the additional time and instruction summer school provides, Wiley said.
In the morning, students worked on their core subjects and in the afternoon they participated in various hands-on STEM projects, including the go-karts. Students in first through third grades made paper carts, which they raced stuffed animals in, while the older students built human-sized carts.
Beyond the academic benefits of summer school, Wiley said it also allowed students to get used to a normal routine and socialize with other students.
“School is going to look different for a while, but it’s still a very enjoyable place,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard work and sometimes it’s fun, and it can be both of those at the same time.”
